Franco Maggiotto, 1936-2006
The news of Franco’s death seemed to take some time to filter through to this country. It was a shock to learn that my dear friend had gone to be with the Lord (on December 20 2006) after a long struggle with cancer.
Born on July 7 1936, raised in a Roman Catholic family in his beloved Italy, Franco trained for the priesthood and served as a Roman Catholic priest for some years. One day when officiating at the Mass, a passage from Hebrews 10 was being read:
Lovewise
‘Be safe with a condom’ has been the predominant message in sex education in this country for 20 years. More recently a further message has been added, ‘If you make a mistake, use the morning-after pill as a fall-back’. After such a long time two things are clear. The approach has been a failure and they are the wrong messages. And it has failed because they are the wrong messages!
Our young people know more about the condom and have easier access to it than ever before. Yet all time high rates of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies out of wedlock prove that more of the same message will make things worse not better.